Mitsubachi
by lyrainthedark
Summary: Mitsubachi...the Honeybee, the sweetest killer in Nihon, famous for her deadly successes. When the Emperor contracts her to seduce and slay his most cunning rival, can she once again defeat the odds and claim a victory? Or does victory on her terms mean something else entirely? Summer Smut Madness Tournament Round 2 Entry!
1. Odori

I

**Odori**

_"No penance can your hard heart find_

_save such as you long since have taught me to endure."_

She sits before him with her legs folded neatly and her fan spread wide and dark before her face. Her eyes are black and gleam with a certain promise; the shadow of her hair is skeins of silk thread unraveled wild and lovely down her back.

"You summoned me, Sesshomaru-dono?"

"Yes. I have need of your special _talents_, Mitsubachi"

The fan closes slowly, _ss-ss-ss-tlink_. Her lips are red; red as blood; they part faintly, a sensual summons, and then they smile.

"Very well. Who is the target, this time?"

"You should know; there is only one I cannot call out myself."

The one he calls Mitsubachi freezes for half a moment; in that space, her features grow as emotionless as the steel, stoic face before her.

Then she smiles again, and this time there is something mocking in it, a hint that he recognizes.

"You must mean the Rebel Emperor."

"He is just a rebel!"

She opens her fan again, waves it thoughtfully.

"And do you require information, or -"

"_No_."

He breathes a thunderous growl.

"I want him dead, woman! I want him dead; or I would not have summoned _you_. Give him neither mercy nor forgiveness; give him only a blood stained death."

Mitsubachi lets out a breath, looks at him from the corner of her eye. He is watching her body, not her face; so typically male – yet as always, he makes no move to touch her.

"Should I assume you have made the necessary arrangements?"

"Yes. An invitation to the rebel's _court_ is waiting on the table; you may take it on your way out."

"Well then, Sesshomaru-dono...the task is within my skills, and you have provided access. I await your offer with an open mind."

"The same as always; one dead rebel, one thousand gold Inufor your _trouble_."

She shakes her head and once again closes her fan, taps it against her palm.

"This is not the same as always, Sesshomaru-dono. This particular engagement carries more risk. He is the Rebel Emperor – I will be lucky to escape with my life once he is dead."

His growl grows again, but he doesn't deny that she speaks truth.

"I am..._appreciative_ of the extra risk. I will give you ten times your usual fee – or twenty. I do not care for gold, for money – I want this _thorn_ removed from my side."

She bows low before him.

"The terms are acceptable. Twenty thousand gold Inu, and I will take care of your _thorn_. Await my return, Sesshomaru-dono. I will come bearing good news, or someone else will come bearing my head."

He shakes his head at her.

"Unacceptable. I require your success."

"And I will endeavor not to follow Rin's example."

He snarls; the girl had been his favorite, but Mitsubachi had never believed in her skill...and the girl had proved her right when she had failed her last task and died for it.

"Did you send _her_ to the Rebel Emperor?"

Mocking.

"_Go_, woman!"

She left, and took her _invitation_ with her.

That night, Mitsubachi dresses in beautiful robes, adorns her hair with elaborate ornaments, and tucks the invitation Sesshomaru has obtained for her into her sleeve. She goes out in an inconspicuous carriage; only when she arrives at the rebel encampment did she draw open the shutters and show her face.

No _invitation_ is required. They know her, and pass her immediately. It is the same at the door to the Rebel Emperor's chamber. Guards stand there, but they bow to her, speak in unison as they open the door.

"Good evening, Kagome-onee-chan!"

"Good evening, Ginta, Hakkaku. How is my lord tonight?"

A/N: Presenting part one of five of my summer smut madness tournament round two entry! All epigraph quotes are from Murasaki Shikibu's "Genji Monogatari"; my edition is translated by Seidenstucker. Remember, there's three other fics in round two, so read them all at Dokuga (there's a link to the site in my profile) – and then vote! Ballots will be made available in the Dokuga forum by the Tournament Mastah, the mighty Kayelyn, within a few days – so keep an eye open, and remember: SMUT IS GOD.

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	2. Hachimitsu

II

**Hachimitsu**

_"Autumn is no time to lie alone."_

Sound of slick flesh.

Sweet moan well provoked.

The thoughtless wandering of hands that know the one they are loving well…very well.

"Ahhhhh…nnnnmmmm….ah….."

_Very _well_._

"_Kagome -_"

Her laughter ripples over his ears like the silk she pulls from his skin, exposing his chest above the loose tie of his robe and the red throbbing of his erection against her body, slipping against wetness but not penetrating – not yet. She wants him – he can pleasure her like no one else – but she will make him work for what he wants because it pleases her to do so.

"Not yet, Kouga. Not yet."

His hands are rough on her skin; his claws rake the soft flesh of her breasts and thighs, sets the heat between her thighs spiraling on an upward climb to a greater heat.

"Kagome – you have too much fun with – ah -"

His groan is deep, bestial, the purring of the wolf, as she rises up and slips him deep into her body. Wet ripples of desire convulse around him and he grasps her thighs in powerful hands and presses up into her, thrusts up again and again until she is panting leaning back in a smooth, perfect curve, one hand squeezing a nipple tightly, the other playing with the slick and swollen heat between her thighs.

"Kouga – _Kouga _-"

He knows she is close to her climax when she begins to breathe his name; he can feel the flexing of the muscles inside her, and he reaches with one hand to replace her own fingers with his, to send her crashing over the inevitable edge with the rough brush of his calloused touch.

She thrums against his moving fingers; she presses her breasts toward him, begging in silence for his fingers to pinch the tingling nerves in her nipples again, but his hands are still against her. The only movement now is from her trembling body, held against him by the hand that is not pressed against her softness in rapture and tense sweet torture.

How many times he has done this to her in the months since they first loved one another she no longer remembers, but she has learned patience at his hands - patience and the greatest pleasure flesh can sustain.

His hands are fire, and then they are ice. Trembling follows the flow of them over her skin and taunts sleeping nerves she didn't know she possessed. Now they are alive, crawling, angry under her skin for his attention.

Kouga looks up at her, beauty bucking her hips. Her clitoris stands out, a pink and swollen bud; the folds of her vulva bloom around it, sticky with entrapping nectar. He strokes the bud with smooth fingertips – fingertips without fingerprints. He plays with the hard points of her nipples, one at a time; he bends close to her mouth and runs his tongue over his lips, but he is sure and certain not to send her tipping over that precious edge.

They fall together when she takes him once more deeply into her body. She feels white heat spooling out within her like an endless uncoiling thread of fire; the muscles within her pulse in the ancient pattern – clench, release of wetness, the surrender of all her nerves to one sensation. _Pleasure_.

The guttural depth of Kouga's groan is the perfect counterpoint to everything running within her, to all the warmth, the blazing fire and the coals it leaves behind.

Kagome leans down and presses her body against him. His arms wrap around her and he presses his lips to her temple.

"What a lovely, unexpected surprise, sweet Kagome. I've missed you -"

She turns into his arms and kisses him.

"And I've missed you. I wouldn't have been able to come, except I was summoned today by His Eminent Majesty The Dog."

She breaks out into a fit of giggles; Kouga encourages her with tickling fingers against her ribs.

"Oh? Say he sent you with a surrender, and that he'll give up his throne to me tomorrow!"

Kagome, the lady Mitsubachi, miko-assassin in service to the youkai emperor, sits up and stills his hands on her stomach with her own hands. In that moment he can see why she was able to make and keep the reputation she has, though she has rarely killed and never at all in_Sesshomaru_'_s _service.

Even to think that name puts a bad taste in Kouga's mouth, and he kisses Kagome again to wash it away.

A/N: Part two; three is still in editing, perhaps an hour or so until it's done. Enjoy the smuts my dears, I hope there've been some surprises for you...:cackles: What happens next? Only I know...but you will soon! (The deadline is midnight, so all five parts of this will be up within the next hour or two...you lucky fwooms XD )

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	3. Jotei

III

**Jotei**

_"It may be difficult when someone you are especially fond of, someone beautiful and charming, has been guilty of an indiscretion, but magnanimity produces wonders."_

Kagome gives him only a moment, and then pulls away, tapping his chest with a finger.

"No, Kouga – stop, now. The Dog sent me here with an _invitation _he was able to procure – it isn't a game any more; he believes in my success against all those enemies of his that we..._relocated_."

Kouga grins.

"Does he? Good. If he really thinks they're dead, then they're safe – and your reputation should be secure."

"Yes. It is. I know so, because tonight...tonight he sent me here to kill you, Kouga. I'm expected back tomorrow to tell him you're dead - "

He blinks at her and then his grin is back full force, feral now, fight in it, and hunger, and desire for the things _she_ cannot give him.

_Blood_.

Death.

Victory!

"Kouga -"

Her tone is warning but he leaps from her side and begins pulling on clothes, fur and armor, headband and sword.

"No, Kagome. I won't lie to you, I want to _fight_ him!"

"Kouga – Kouga _he's terrible_ -"

"What do you want me to do? Sit here waiting for half an eternity? Hope he gets tired and wanders off to drown himself in the sea? He's terrorized this country for _five hundred years_ Kagome; before me no one ever stood up to him; I've got no trust that someone will try if I fail. If you have a better plan, then speak now -"

"Why can't I kill you, Kouga?"

He stares at her, naked woman sitting at the edge of his bed, running her fingers through her hair. He wonders if she is making a bad joke, but her eyes are dark and serious and he comes back to stand in front of her, looks down at her and tilts her chin up so that she can't escape meeting his eyes.

"Talk, Kagome."

"Well...he thinks he's sent me here to kill you, and as far as he knows I have a perfect track record."

"And?"

"And I don't want to put all that work to waste, so don't run off like a fool! We planned for this – you'll get your chance to blood him but -"

Kouga snarls.

"Attacking him from the shadows! And if you think I'm going to watch him put his hands on you and not do something about it -"

Frustrated, Kagome stands and paces away from him. Is he really going to be stubborn _now_? There's no time for this!

Six months of working for Sesshomaru, taking his orders, listening to his growl, anger his only emotion, vengeance his only response. Six months going to those of Kouga's secret allies Sesshomaru had found out and seducing them by her presence to convince the eyes that followed her – six months slipping sleepdust drugs and not poison to men whose bodies would come back to life later in Kouga's care. Six months of deception, all to ensure that she would be close to him, that when the time came she would be the one sent to kill Kouga.

He had sent Rin first, but Kouga had a lover – a woman – he was not to be tempted, certainly not when he knew who and what Rin was.

Kagome had been the one to kill her.

Kouga had sent Sesshomaru back her head.

"Kagome -"

Kouga comes up behind her and lays his hands on her shoulders.

"Kagome, you're the only woman I want – the Empress who will sit beside me once we've dealt with His Dogness. I don't want to lose you -"

"And I don't want to lose _you_. Let me do what we planned for, what we've worked for. You know he won't really touch me; I won't let him do more than put his hands on me – he won't be my lover, you're my only lover, you know that, no matter what the rest of them think. The sleepdust will ensure it; it worked on all the others that we saved, it'll work on the Dog too."

Kouga bends and wraps his arms around her and she does not shy away, though his armor is cold and hard against her body.

"For every time his fingers touch you, I'll touch you a hundred times – and when this is through, I'm bathing you myself."

She reaches up to touch his face.

"I'll be looking forward to it, lover."

He steps back reluctantly, and then nudges her toward her clothes.

"Get dressed, Kagome. We've got work to do."

He poked his head out through the door, and the two wolves who had let Kagome in salutes him.

"Ginta, Hakkaku...it's time. Get the hue and cry ready, and tell the boys to make sure they make it look real – but if they hurt her, I'll kill them myself."

The two scamper, calling out as they go.

Kagome comes up behind him and holds out a fistful of sleepdust and a cup of wine; Kouga makes a face, and lets her dissolve one in the other; he can't taste it, but he isn't looking forward to the headache that's going to haunt him.

He drinks the wine in one long draught and then sways and staggers his way to the bed.

He catches Kagome's eye with the last of his consciousness.

"Come back to me, Kagome..."

A/N: And there's three, my dears! The plot thickens! What will happen next? Can Kagome succeed in her true quest, and win the promise of true love and her own imperial throne? Will Kouga, Rebel Emperor, wake to pleasure or dismay?

Part four in editing; it shall be up soon...so keep an eye out, and we'll see!

Please Review!


	4. Kafun

IV

**Kafun**

_"Would that, like the smoke of the watch-fires that mounts and vanishes at random in the empty sky, _

_the smoldering flame of passion could burn itself away"_

Kagome carries the words that slip out of Kouga like a talisman as she ties her obi awkwardly and then rushes out into the night, barefoot, her robes hanging, her hair disarranged.

She has to make a show of it, after all.

The Inu's eyes are always, _always_ watching.

She leaps into her carriage and demands movement; behind her, gaining ground but not _too_ quickly, the "hue and cry" that Kouga had demanded begins to rush behind her. The howls of wolves beat at her blood; in the security of her carriage, her face hidden behind closed shutters, Kagome smiles at the sound and presses her hand against her breast; her heart is pounding.

She should be thinking about how easy this will be, but in truth it will be hard and she knows it, unless Sesshomaru is more eager now that his enemy is dead than he has been in the months since. She has mastered the art of setting sleepdust free in a youkai's presence; she is human, miko, immune to it – all she needs to do is get enough in the air between them to lull him.

Kagome takes a deep breath and finds within herself the mask of _Mitsubachi_, the mask of the killer, the mask of the seductress, the assassin.

The cry of the wolves begins to fade into the distance behind her, and she leans across and opens the shutter, peers outside. The pack is turning, stopping, going back into the distance; the walls of the city are before her and the soldiers on the wall are throwing fire and power and darkness out into the night.

It is almost two o'clock in the morning; she must be quick.

When she steps out of the carriage she is Mitsubachi, and while she walks she makes a show of plucking out the elaborate ornaments that are askew in her hair one by one. Unseen, unscented, sleepdust powder flows from the movements of her sleeves. Every eye follows her; many draw as close to her as they can – she is a beautiful woman, and she is not out of bounds, even if she has a dangerous reputation.

By the time she reaches the Emperor's own chambers those on the walls are begin to yawn; when she kneels before Sesshomaru and bows, her eyes on his face and the slow, cruel grin of pleasure that spreads there, guards all along the path she walked have begun to fall asleep.

"Sesshomaru-dono, I hope you have prepared my _fee_. The Rebel Emperor is dead, and I am alive – barely."

"So I see...the wolves chased you even to the gates, I hear. A narrow escape for the formidable Mitsubachi."

His tone is mocking, but she answers mildly.

"They were his pack, Sesshomaru-dono. I imagine they are _most _displeased with me."

For the first time in her memory, he laughs – but it is not a pleasant sound, not the warmth of her Kouga or the panting amusement of his pack. He is laughing because he thinks Kouga is dead; he is laughing because he thinks himself and uncontested ruler once more.

Yet the sound is reassuring, and Mitsubachi considers the first of the ploys she had thought to use upon – the easiest and perhaps if she is lucky the one with he swiftest success. She bows low before him again, and then speaks while she is still prostrate, her fingers reaching toward him.

"Sesshomaru-dono, if I may beg an indulgence – I was required to flee in great disorder and my robes are improperly tied. Might you summon a maidservant to assist me in righting them?"

His laughter rumbles to a halt, and he considers her – the length of her hair unbound, her obi a mussed and hasty knot, the layers of her robes in _great disorder_ indeed. He considers that now that she has completed this most vital of tasks, he has no more for her – that there is no longer any reason for him to keep her around, this Mitsubachi, this woman of scathing wit and scorching beauty...but she has other talents, he thinks. Carnal promises she's made to him with her eyes, her leaning – is there any reason now not to want her?

He takes advantage of her request just like she wants him to.

"Come here, Mitsubachi; I will assist you myself."

She stands and steps toward him, mounts the dais and undoes the knot of her obi with one hand at her back. The layers of her robes fall to the floor one after another in puddles of bright silk, and as they fall Sesshomaru's eyes are on her body and not the faint glitter of sleepdust as it slips from her sleeves and her fingers and filters through the air.

She stands bare before him except for an open gauze robe and her _koshimaki_; he reaches out a finger and touches her nipple, fear-puckered, cold-puckered, and thinks her shudder is lust.

* * *

A/N: Part 4 of 5; only one bit left, my dears, onward to the end!


	5. Sasu

V

**Sasu**

_"Real things in the darkness seem no more real than dreams."_

"Mitsubachi...woman...now that you are naked before me I find myself not wanting to dress you after all."

She takes half step forward, so that she is almost touching him, and as she does so he yawns.

"Sesshomaru-dono, you are the _emperor_. _Whatever_ you want, it is yours..."

The last robe slips down her shoulders, and he leans forward and then back from her; he can smell the wolf strong on her skin, but he supposes that is only to be expected.

"I want _you_ woman, and now you will be mine."

He strips out of his white and gold imperial robes; his skin is pale, and his hair is white, and though his eyes are gold the stare in them is sharp and cold as ice. He reaches out and grasps her shoulders, but his movements are becoming slow; his eye are half lidded and she wonders if that is from sleepdust or lust.

She reaches up to touch his face, and as she does so he breathes a stronger dose of that same eager drug from the palm of the hand she had used to hold Kouga's dose. He staggers back a little, and she _pushes_ him; he stumbles back onto the dais, falls on his back and lays there, looking up at her. His erection juts up between his thighs; she reaches to touch her breast and his eyes lap at her skin with a terrible hunger. He reaches out, and pulls her forward – he yawns again, faintly, and growls low in his throat.

Suspicion is beginning within him; his blood had been racing with the knowledge that his foe was defeated, racing with the thought of what he could do to this woman. Now sleep creeps through his veins, seducing him as surely as she does, and he does not understand -

His eyes drift closed – and then open abruptly -

In the moment between Mitsubachi _stings_. An edge of steel so sharp he barely feels it slices across his throat.

Red blood bubbles from the wound and pours down over his body like water from a spring. He gasps throatless and sees from the corner of his eye what she has done, sees the sharp edge concealed in the hanging fabric of her gauze sleeve, its glitter concealed by gilding amidst the gold embroidery. Steel in her silk – death brought true and shining against his throat -

His movements are thick and heavy; his thoughts are tangled in a heavy fog. His flesh is sealing, already sealing, and he moves as if to push her away but it is too late – too late -

She speaks and even as the sound of her voice makes its way through the haze her blade comes toward him again, and takes off his head.

"_I am Kagome, and I amKouga's woman; I always have been. You are nothing now."_

Kagome steps back from the dais, away from the spreading pool of blood and the headless body that spouts it. She hears howling outside, and wonders at it for only a moment.

"Of course he couldn't wait – but that dose should've lasted at least until morning."

She hears the sounds of combat, but not much; the sleepdust has done its work, an empire bought with scentless powder.

She looks down at Sesshomaru's head, the expression frozen in an expression of disbelief.

"And you paid for it yourself, Dog. With every golden Inu you gave me, you bought your way a little bit closer to death."

She wipes the blood that has spewed at her from her body with the red, deadly robe and leaves it on the floor by Sesshomaru's body. She dresses in a single layer of clean silk, and longs for a bath, and waits, kicking her heels, for Kouga to come for her.

She does not wait long.

"Couldn't just stick to the plan, could you?"

He takes her chastisement with good grace.

"Sorry, Kagome, but that stuff gave me terrible dreams. I woke after an hour – and when I saw what time it was I couldn't wait around. Most of the guards were asleep – and I see you did your job."

"Don't _pout_ Kouga. He's dead, that's all that matters – and you got your fight."

"Half asleep soldiers and guards, doesn't even count -"

"_Kouga_!"

He grins and shakes his head.

"All right, all right. Now, tell me – where did he touch you? Tell me so I can touch you instead – so I make up for ever moment you endured near him."

Kagome smiles.

"You can come find out in my bath; I'm a bloody mess under this robe."

He strokes her hair and she leans against him; Kouga peruses the bloody room, and considers what could have gone wrong, and thanks gods he doesn't believe in that she is safe, and safe, and his.

Then her fingers slips teasingly against his hip, and poke against his armor, and she stands on tiptoe and kisses him and breathes words against his mouth.

"Bath, Kouga. _Now_."

He blinks, and then grins.

"Of course. Of _course_, my empress."

Her tongue strokes his lips and sets fire burning across his skin.

"_Empress_. Did I tell you how much I liked the sound of that?"

A/N: And...we have...the end! That's all, dears, there isn't any more...So remember! Read the fics! Love the smut! And vote for your favorites!


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